If you’ve been a frequent traveler long enough, you know that you can really get some purchasing power by accumulating frequent flyer points and miles. The easiest way to do this, in my opinion, is with credit card points.
When you open up a credit card, the most straightforward way to accumulate points is to open up a credit card associated with a specific program. For example, an American Airlines card gives you American Airlines miles.
However, an increasingly popular way of obtaining points is using big bank’s proprietary programs. These include programs such as Chase or American Express.
What’s great about these programs is that you can “transfer” these points to other providers, giving you a large amount of flexibility. Basically, you exchange one bank point for one point in that unique providers program
For example, Chase allows you to transfer your points to a variety of airlines (such as United and British Airways) or hotels (such as Hyatt or Marriott). If I wanted to transfer my points to Hyatt, I would send my Chase points to Hyatt’s points program. I would now have Hyatt points that is used within the Hyatt ecosystem.
For this particular article, I’ll discuss the Chase bank ecosystem. However, the basic principle is the same regardless of whatever bank ecosystem you are using.
Why You Should Transfer Your Credit Card Points
In a lot of areas of the internet, it’s sacrosanct for you to spend your credit card bank points on things like travel credit or Amazon. It’s of my opinion that you should do what you want.
I will always defend people using their points however they want. With that being said, I do think it’s important to think about value. I find that I personally get more value out of points by transferring points than trying to use them for travel credit. For example, my wife and I love going to Miami. In February, hotels are often over $500 per night, which would require over 50,000 points if I redeemed them for travel credit at 1 cent per point through a bank travel portal.
However, hotels might have a room on an award reservation for 25,000 points per night. That means that I would get at least 2 cents in value per point.
It takes time to figure out when is the best time to use them as travel credit vs. transferring and redeeming for an award night. I think it’s worth figuring out the system so that you can get more value out of your points.
Chase Transfer Partners
As the title of this article states, I’m going to be talking about Chase’s program. Chase has 11 airline transfer partners and 3 hotel transfer partners. Note that, for all transfer partners, you can transfer a minimum of 1,000 points per transfer transaction. The airline partners are as follows:
| Airline | Ratio | Notes |
| Aer Lingus | 1000:1000 | Great for upgrades on cheap Aer Lingus flights; within Avios ecosystem; can transfer to other Avios |
| Air Canada | 1000:1000 | Lots of partners and easy-to-use search function; top tier partner |
| Air France-KLM | 1000:1000 | Great for business class to Europe |
| British Airways | 1000:1000 | Within Avios ecosystem; can transfer to other Avios, including Qatar |
| Emirates | 1000:1000 | Cheapest points options for Emirates flights |
| Iberia | 1000:1000 | Within Avios ecosystem; can transfer to other Avios, including Qatar |
| JetBlue | 1000:1000 | Could be a good deal for cheap flights |
| Singapore | 1000:1000 | Great for expanded first & business class availability on Singapore itself |
| Southwest | 1000:1000 | Very rarely a good deal |
| United | 1000:1000 | US-based airline, so familiar for most US-based flyers |
| Virgin Atlantic | 1000:1000 | Has niche uses for incredible value |
The hotel partners are as follows:
| Hotel | Ratio | Notes |
| Hyatt | 1000:1000 | Best hotel redemption by far |
| IHG | 1000:1000 | Rarely a good deal |
| Marriott | 1000:1000 | Rarely a good deal |
When to Transfer Points
Whenever you damn well please. There your points – Use them how you want!
On a more serious note, I think one of the interesting things about points and miles is that they open up a wealth of options that many people would usually not be able to afford.
If you’re happy with your transfer, you absolutely should transfer points. They’re your points, and you should do what you want.
How to Transfer Points
Transferring points is quite easy. You can do it either in on a desktop or on the app. I personally find it easier to do on the computer, as I may need to enter award program details, which is just easier with multiple tabs. The app has a great user-interface, though. This is helpful if your award program info is already saved within Chase’s website.
First, log in to your Chase account.
Click on your points balance in the top right.
Sometimes, it doesn’t show, so you’ll click on your Ultimate Rewards earning card and click “Redeem.”
If you have multiple cards that earn points, you’ll then click on the card that has transfer partners (basically, any Ultimate Rewards card with a fee).
From there, you’ll click on “Travel,” then “Transfer points to partners.”
You’ll then click on the partner you want to transfer too. In this example, I’ll choose Hyatt.
You’ll then click “Transfer Points.” Note that this won’t automatically transfer all your points to them, as it’s just to make sure that you want to transfer points to that partner.
You’ll then either confirm your partner award account information or enter in your account information, if this is your first time entering in for that partner. Always double-check this to make sure it is correct.
At this point, you’ll type in how many points you want to transfer and click “Next.” You can transfer in increments of 1,000 points.
Finally, you’ll review the details of your transfer. On the left, you’ll see how many Chase points you’ll have after you transfer your points, while you’ll see how many points you’re transferring on the right. Confirm that this is all correct. You’ll then click “Submit.”
You will then see your confirmation page. You have transferred your points!
When I transfer points, I then wait about 15 seconds and then refresh my partner awards frequent flyer page. This is to make sure that the transfer went through, as all transfers are instantaneous (with the exception of Singapore Airlines, which can take up to 48 hours).
Considerations for Transferring Points
Whenever you are thinking about transferring your points, I believe that there are two main considerations.
First, remember that once you transfer your points, you cannot return them to Chase. In the example that I provided above, I transferred 1,000 points from my Chase account to my Hyatt account. Those points can never go back to Chase. Indeed, there is a battle at the DOT about issues with United and phantom award space. With that being said, be very sure you want to transfer your points before transferring them to the partner award program.
Second, it’s not always the most economical to transfer points when cash prices are cheap. Rather, it might be better to just use the Chase travel portal. This is because you are guaranteed to get, at a minimum, 1.25 cents per points in the Chase travel portal.
With that being said, I find that it rarely makes sense to transfer Chase points to book an economy award within the US.
Let me demonstrate with an actual example. If I wanted to book a cash flight from Washington Dulles to LAX, it would cost $307. Together, these flights together would cost 25,800 miles and $11.20.
Each flight is 12,900 miles.
You could transfer 25,800 Chase points to United to book these specific flights.
However, when looking at the Chase travel portal, I find the exact same flight for 24,556 points. If you book through the Chase portal, you would both save points AND not have to pay taxes and fees (they’re covered by points!).
Additionally, you would also get United award miles and elite credit. This is because Chase is booking it as a paid flight!
Clearly, booking through the Chase travel portal makes more sense in this scenario. You need to run the math for yourself to make sure that you’re getting the best deal.
Conclusion
Chase points are highly useful for booking flights and hotels to all over the world. This article gives step-by-step instructions on how to transfer your Chase points to a variety of travel programs. It can be daunting the first time you transfer your points. However, once you figure it out, it can open up a ton more options in your travel journey!
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